https://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/justice/texas-last-meal/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn(CNN) -- The hefty last meal ordered but not eaten by an executed Texas inmate brought a complaint from a state senator and the end Thursday to the practice of special menus.
Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, wrote Thursday that he opposed the practice of providing a last meal of choice to the condemned.
"It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. One which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim," Whitmire wrote.
The Democrat, who represents Houston and parts of north Harris County, said "enough is enough" after Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with other ingredients, a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream and a pound of barbecue with a half-loaf of white bread.
The meal request also included a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, a pizza and three root beers.
Brewer declined to eat the last meal Wednesday, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark.
Whitmire, in asking the state to stop special requests, said he would seek the change by law if necessary.
"I believe Senator Whitmire's concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid," Brad Livingston, executive director of the Department of Criminal Justice, said in statement released Thursday. "Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit."
Brewer, 44, was executed for his involvement in the infamous racially motivated 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr.
I'm having a tough time deciding who the bigger asshole is in this story. Brewer was already a reprehensible douche to begin with, but by pulling this stunt, he's now ruined it for everybody. I don't even have a problem with him not eating it; I'm not sure I'd be hungry a few hours before my scheduled demise, and all. But the buffet rule needs to apply here. Take what you want, but eat what you take.
Then there's this grandstanding bald-fuck from Houston, deciding that displays of decency are inappropriate. Why should he even care, except out of a misguided principle and a desire to look tough on criminals. Something that this article didn't mention was that in Texas, last meals are only things that can be prepared in the prison kitchen. They weren't ordering expensive food to be shipped in from Lonestar's. It was prepared by prisoners or bought from the commissary. There's no money to be saved by this, and if it were, then it'd probably be the $40 that any other state caps a meal at.
Brian Price, a former prison inmate and cook in Texas, is planning to release a book in December about his experience preparing almost 200 last meals. Price, who is on parole after serving 14 years for kidnapping and sexual assault, said he took pride in preparing the meals. He remembers fixing butter beans for a condemned man.
"That was something his mom used to cook when he was a kid," Price said. "It takes them back to a time of good memories. The smells and the tastes take you back to a calm, peaceful time in their life that they want to reflect on."
This is a convicted rapist who's demonstrating more class and humanity than a fucking state Senator. Ye Gods!
Topic: Texas drops special last meal for death row inmates (Read 8865 times)
